Boston Consulting Group's Applied AI Index 2026, based on a survey of more than 1,300 CxOs and senior leaders across more than 20 sectors, measures how far companies have progressed from AI ambition to actual enterprise impact. It finds that almost half of companies now generate measurable value from AI, with BCG segmenting the full sample into maturity tiers: 7.5% are classified as fully "future-built" on AI, while another 41% are "scaling", already creating some value but with clear room to do more.
The index is distinct from BCG's separately published AI Radar series, which tracks CEO sentiment and decision-making rather than realized enterprise value, and the two together give a fuller picture of both how confident leadership is in AI and how much of that confidence is actually translating into results on the ground.